Beautiful Creatures, Stoker and Broken City

How wonderful to have three good middle of the road movies in succession. They are all thrillers, although the first, Beautiful Creatures, veers into the realms of fantasy. Although an adaption of a young adult novel about a family of witches, this is no Twilight rehash. The two young leads are OK, but it is the old hands that make this an entertaining drama. Jeremy Irons, Emma Thomson, Eileen Atkins are the brilliant, though unexpected,  British trio, given the setting is deepest South Carolina. Add in Viola Davis and we have acting of the highest class. They must have all seen something in the script, and they were not wrong. Richard LaGravenese has written some good dialogue and directed with aplomb. The lush settings make for a visual treat, perhaps the colour could have been toned down just a little. The story is a little weak, but the ambiguous ending does not pander to the teenagers and tweenies. Thank goodness.

The most interesting thing I have found out since seeing Stoker is that is written by Wentworth Miller. The actor from Prison Break was actually born in Chipping Norton and this, his first screenplay, was under the pseudonym Ted Foulke. Inspired by Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, it eventually found funding  and became the first American venture for Korean director Park Chan-wook. Having just watched his violent Oldboy again, this is fairly tame in comparison. But the director's insistence on making an art house movie instead of a mainstream thriller makes for a troublesome mix. We basically have a threehander. Mia Wasikowska, the unsmiling intense teenager, Nicole Kidman, her uptight mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and Mathew Goode as the suspicious Uncle Charlie who seems to have something in common with his niece that is neither normal or pleasant. Unfortunately the dialogue is not the best, and the direction needed a kick up the pants. And the constantly snappy editing and camera movement do get in the way. When you actually notice this happening, it does somewhat spoil the experience. But the story is intriguing, the Tennessee sets are great, the clothes superb and the acting is fine. Especially Nicole Kidman, who shines in her role. Playing it dead straight, it still makes you smile. I'm still not sure why it had an 18 Certificate. Deleting a couple of minutes, and it might have been a 12 Certificate and gained a much wider audience. But then I guess everyone might have wondered what had happened to Park.

Now Broken City is a completely straightforward thriller. We are now in New York with corrupt mayor Russell Crowe seeking re-election. He hires disgraced cop Mark Whalberg to investigate his wife Catherine Zeta Jones. There are all sorts of twists and turns. There is a lot of dialogue, mostly just about OK. So nothing to write home about, but the city looks good, and bad as required. Although the wonderful helicopter shots of Manhattan could have come from any movie or travel show. So reasonably enjoyable, but instantly forgotten.